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The US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has come out today with proverbial fists swinging to remind the public at large that the descent of FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), into an abyss of infamy remains a work in process.
NEW INDICTMENT CONTAINS FOUR FRAUD CHARGES AND EIGHT CONSPIRACY CHARGES https://t.co/PysIkIIyeh
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) February 23, 2023
To wit, the FEC has formally charged Sam Bankman-Fried with the conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Election Commission. Specifically, SBF allegedly used straw donors to evade contribution limits.
* BANKMAN-FRIED IS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO MAKE UNLAWFUL POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS AND DEFRAUD THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION@reuters
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) February 23, 2023
Back in December 2022, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an ethics watchdog group, had formally petitioned the FEC to investigate alleged violations of the election law by Sam Bankman-Fried, who had admitted donating millions of dollars to Congressmembers. In fact, as per a tabulation by CoinDesk, one in three US Congress members have received some funding from SBF.
Today's indictment alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried made over 300 illegal political contributions worth over $10 million.
JUST IN: SBF indictment says he made over 300 illegal political donations worth more than $10 million.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) February 23, 2023
Unusual Whales has compiled an exhaustive list of legislators who benefitted from Sam Bankman-Fried's largesse.
BREAKING: FTX is sending letters to politicians who received donations from FTX to return the money they received.
There was not a list of the politicians they gave money to, and the amounts.
Until now.
See it here:https://t.co/uK8CTsLugJ pic.twitter.com/JnN2j8VFDL
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 5, 2023
Bear in mind that FTX's current CEO, John Ray, has already warned Congressmembers to return these tainted funds by the 28th of February or face legal action. FTX's current management believes that these campaign contributions were illegally siphoned off and utilized to gain undue political mileage.
For those who might be unaware, the crypto exchange FTX maintained an undisclosed synergetic relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto trading arm, Alameda Research, replete with commingled funds at the Silvergate bank, which allowed Alameda the convenience of borrowing FTX client funds after posting collateral in the form of illiquid tokens, including FTX's in-house FTT coin. This gig ended when Alameda's outsized exposure to the FTT token became public knowledge in early November, prompting Binance to dump its own FTT holdings, collapsing the token's price. Amid this fracas, the then-CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, gave away the trading firm's floor price on the FTT token, inviting a veritable onslaught of speculative attacks. With Alameda's ability to pay off its liabilities impaired as its collateral of illiquid tokens quickly lost their inflated values, and with surging client withdrawals resulting in a bank run, FTX had no choice, in the end, to declare bankruptcy.
Update: Sam Bankman-Fried Charged on 12 Counts in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
New indictment of SBF adds 4 charges and a few spicy details clearly showing the misappropriation of FTX customer funds was intentional.
The indictment also seeks forfeiture of $150 million in bank accounts held in the name of FTX Digital Markets--The Bahamas won't like that. https://t.co/uW9SUne4pl
— MetaLawMan (@MetaLawMan) February 23, 2023
In a related development, the unsealing of a superceding indictment in the the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has revealed 12 charges, including eight conspiracy charges related to fraud as well as four charges for wire fraud and securities fraud. Bear in mind that SBF's original indictment in December 2022 contained eight charges. The superceding indictment also contained an additional charge for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
